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Biosphere 2: What Really Happened? | Dartmouth Alumni Magazine

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In the fall of 1991, I was sealed into an airtight, three-acre mini-world called Biosphere 2, a $150-million futuristic facility near the aptly named town of Oracle, Arizona. I joined seven other explorers in a daring, high-profile study of sustainability and the new science of biospherics—the study of closed systems that mimic Earth’s environment. It was right out of a science fiction movie, and unlike anything previously attempted on such a scale. Our goal was to spend those two years studying how a mini-biosphere—complete with wilderness areas, a farm and a group of humans—would work with as few outside inputs as possible. A privately funded venture, Biosphere 2 had three main goals—education, eco-technology development and learning how well our eco-laboratory worked. We also hoped to help NASA and other space agencies learn more about life-support systems for long-term space missions. In case you’re wondering what Biosphere 1 is, you’re living on it—planet Earth. That’s the best wa

By Mark Nelson '68 Published in the May - Jun 2018 Issue In the fall of 1991, I was sealed into an airtight, three-acre mini-world called Biosphere 2, a $150-million futuristic facility near the aptly named town of Oracle, Arizona. I joined seven other explorers in a daring, high-profile study of sustainability and the new science of biospherics—the study of closed systems that mimic Earth’s environment. It was right out of a science fiction movie, and unlike anything previously attempted on such a scale. Our goal was to spend those two years studying how a mini-biosphere—complete with wi

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